Arrived
Departed
Arrived quite late in Makarora after a long day on the bus! Laura and I hit the bar on arrival and didnt leave until it closed! Sang on the kareoke - several times - cringe!! Laughed a lot though! Introduced Laura to the stars before creating our own party in our room!

On the way to our next stop, Makarora, which was literally a town of nothing but the hostel, the stops on the way deserve more mention than the place itself! Again just more amazing views of all the mountains around which we were driving through. Would have been able to see Mount Cook reflected perfectly in Lake Matheson, but weather wasn't allowing.
Just before hostel stop, we went along some of the glacial melt river to some beautiful blue pools (I know, some more of the same). Only difference this time is that they were about 0 degrees,...

8.30 departed for Fox Glacier, now this looked like a more local place to stay rather than Franz which just seemed like a tourist spot, but none the less i carried on with the bus, we did quite a few stops today...
Lake Matheson - choc box reflecitons of alps, mount cook and mount tasman, walked around the lake for an hour. Frosty morning as well was great. My favourite stop of the day i think, altho we did all get a little tired of taking photos each time we came to a gap with view of the reflections.
Knights Point Look Out - looked out...

Today we were meant to be travelling to Queenstown but we decided that we would stop at Wanaka as it was a nice town and the lake was amazing.
In wanaka we checked into the Purple Cow hostel and had a bit of a wander around town. I replaced my headtorch from its trip into the river and bought wax to sort out my walking boots as they were finally beginning to dry out.
We then headed up through twon and the group split into two with half staying at the cinema and the rest of us heading up to puzzel world. Puzzel world had a large maze an...

I only stayed in wanaka one night, but it was really nice, infact I may go back. I was on a really good bus though and I wanted to arrive in Queenstown with those people, so I only stayed one night. It was a nice little beach town and our hostel used to be a hotel, so it was nice.

We spent the next few days driving downt the coast to Wanaka. We spent the night on the beach near Jackson Bay. We decided to do the "tourist trick" and got our campervan stuck in the sand, the temption of sleeping on the beach was too great for our simple van - and we quickly realized that 4WD does make a difference. Lucky for us, a trio of Germans arrived a little later with a 4WD Jeep and winch attached. They were happy to use their engineering skils and 2 hours later finally dragged us out of the sand. Meanwhile, I (Mikaela) enjoyed...

Making our way southwards stopped very briefly to look at the glacier down the road: Fox. Same kind of formation as Franz ( a glacier amongst a temperate rainforest valley)but more visible from right off the road.
Made our way to Wanaka, the ski capital of NZ. If you're not here to ski/board then you've got pretty much nothing to do, and accommodation was tight. So we moved on, but not before discovering one of the coolest attractions: Puzzling world. A place filled with many perception tricks and mind puzzle games, including a huge maze...

In the heart of the Southern Alps in an area known as the Southern Lakes, Wanaka is the après ski capital of the southern hemisphere. It was a perfect base for the nearby ski field of Cardrona, where we spent 3 days learning to snowboard (with varying degrees of success).
What would be a scary journey in a normal car became a nightmare in our campervan, driving up the side of a mountain with nothing stopping us from falling 1,900m down to the bottom. This made us nervous, let alone the prospect of snowboarding!
When we finally got there we...

New Zealand really is astonishing. Just when you think youve seen the most beautifuil place.. you turn a bend and see something more mind-blowing. Its as though it cant make up its mind what to be. From the Franz to Wanaka road, you can see Snowy Mountains, Glaciers, The Temperate Rainforest with palms and the Tasman Sea all at the same time... Its just bizaare. Lake Wanaka is a real treat. Im staying here for a couple of nights I think.

Wanaka see more of New Zealand? (hee hee!)
L said on a number of occasions that he wanted to pick up a hitch hiker. But only if he/she looked like a backpacker who needed a ride. No crazy people allowed. Well, he finally got the opportunity. Saw a young guy with a bcakpack and ski boots on the street with his thumb out. Yep, he fit the description. Was going as far as we were to Wanaka which was only 50K away. So I hopped in the back, had the opportunity to take a short nap while L was happy to talk to someone other than me. Turns out he...